OUR COLLECTION


From what we understand, The Cherry Grove Archives Collection unofficially started in the early 1940's, when Bill and Mary Ronin (and others) began documenting the community in photography and 8mm film. We find evidence of this in the way they casually jotted down, "Cherry Grove Archives" with a ball-point pen on various photo slides and film canisters, almost seemingly with the knowing that this material would be historic.


Since then, the collection has grown both because of the donations made by Grove community members throughout the years and also because of the dedicated work of Harold Seeley, who's passion for collecting surely saved many Cherry Grove treasures from becoming trash. Today our Archives volunteers are working hard to preserve, digitize and present our material in ways that both educate and engage.


We would like to thank Lee Sharmat, Lorraine Michels and Brian Clark for their many volunteer hours spent collecting and cataloging all the material in the Archives, as part of our on-going mission to digitize all our treasures.


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We are privileged to have photos in our collection dating back to the late 1800's, and a wonderfully rare documentation of LGBTQIA+ lives in Cherry Grove that began in the mid-twentieth century, spanning through our colorful queer community of today.
READ COLLECTION DETAILS
Thanks to the hard work of our volunteers, we have spent the last several years digitizing thousands of images, celluloid, ephemera and artifacts that have been diligently collected since the early 1900s. Though the process is extensive, we are working to have our entire collection available to view online.


VIEW COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS
In the years before the Stonewall Uprising, our secluded beach enclave on Fire Island was a respite for gay men and women. Explore this fascinating and forgotten history with nearly 70 photographs that explore LGBTQIA+ life of Cherry Grove visitors and residents in the 1950s.
VIEW SAFEHAVEN EXHIBITION
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We are proud to have partnered with several established Cherry Grove photographers, to present their work through our collection. View the history of the Grove through their lense as you tour a selection of their work which has documented our community for many decades.
VIEW ARTIST COLLECTIONS
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Our goal is to include everyone's story for future generations. To achieve this monumental task we encourage all the Cherry Grove organizations, businesses, fundraisers, service groups, visitors and residents to submit their history to our community archive.
SUBMIT TO THE ARCHIVES


Watch a 7 min short film about the work being done to "Save the Past".